On That Day, 2000 Years Later
by Aspenvanilla
Summary: Levi Ackerman is an archeologist at the top of his field, who has made it his life mission to uncover the truth behind the ancient myth of the titans and the city, Shiganshina. He soon comes face to face with the greatest discovery of his career: a boy frozen in crystal. Things soon complicate though when the boy unexpectedly emerges. Reincarnation!fic. Ereri/Riren.
1. Prologue: A Door Unopened

**On that Day, 2000 Years Later**

Levi Ackerman is an archeologist at the top of his field, who has made it his life mission to uncover the truth behind the ancient myth of the titans and the city, Shiganshina. He soon comes face to face with the greatest discovery of his career: a boy frozen in crystal. Things soon complicate though when the boy unexpectedly emerges. Mysterious cultists and competing governments become the least of his problems as secrets are unearthed and memories dredged up. Reincarnation!fic. Ereri/Riren.

_Disclaimer: I don't own_

**Prologue-A Door Unopened**

The Phone call arrived in the dead of the night.

"Hange, I swear to God," Levi croaked, one thin leg dangling over the edge of his cot. "If this is you drunk dialing me again…"

"I'm very sober," she assured quickly. Her voice was louder than usual. It gave him a mind grain. "It's the dig site. I found something."

Levi sat up straight. "What is it?"

"There's an old door, right in this little ditch area that seems to have been preserved. I carbon dated some of the petrified wood and it's _old_. Like 2,000 years old."

"This is it. This really might be It," He muttered, throwing a shirt over his head. "Who else have you told."

"No one. I thought you might want to be on the scene first since, you know, this project is your baby."

Levi snorted at that, but he was genuinely grateful. Not that he'd ever say that out loud to the batty laboratory analyst.

This could really be the discovery of his career. Not only that, if he could prove that these ruins were the remains of the Mythical city, Shiganshina, he would be renowned in the field of Archeology.

"Levi? You still there?" came Hange's voice, yanking him out of his thoughts. _Right, first things first. I have to get there and take a look myself. _

"Yeah. Hange, I'll be there in five." And then he hung up.

-0-

"See here, how this area is boxed in with stones?" Hange said the moment he arrived on the site. "This is the building I carbon dated. I didn't even notice it with all the trees growing out of it, but you'll see if you look closer."

"You said something about a door?"

"Right! Come around this way!" Levi followed her as she led him around the grove of trees. He was careful to step over the white strings that mapped out all the plots, not wanting to disturb anyone's work.

"It's really fucking dark back here," he muttered. Hange tapped her temple and a light instantly burst into existence, directed right at him.

"Don't shine that in my eyes," he growled, clamping a hand over the headlight on her forehead. "How did you even think to look back here anyways? It's completely hidden."

"It was mostly an accident," she replied, turning away to duck under some very low branches. "Watch your head. Actually, one of those plot strings tripped me and I fell at just the right angle. I slid right down this little ditch here-watch your step, there's a pothole right there-and ended up right…here."

"I don't…" but he stopped as soon as the analyst pulled a dark branch out of the way. At first he thought hange was kidding him, but then he took a closer look. A grey stone met the yellow light, shadows playing across a multitude of wood grains. It looked to have been organic once, but the years had turned it to stone.

"It looks like a door, right," Hange prodded. "Look at that hole there where a door handle used to be. And that little one under it must have been a keyhole."

Levi fingered the indents of the petrified wood.

"Now look behind you," she said quietly. The light vanished as the analyst turned around. Levi followed suit. And was taken aback.

"Stairs," he murmured. Or at least, what was once a set of stone steps. The edges were softened and worn down to a nearly unrecognizable state, but they were defiantly there, running all the way up to the edge of the grove.

"It's amazing, right," Hange inserted. "The trees and top soil kept this all sheltered from the elements and the roots kept it all in place."

"It's a basement," Levi said.

"Huh?" Hange twisted her head around. "Oh, yeah! I think you might be right! Do you think…?" she started.

"No. I highly doubt there's anything on the other side of that door. Probably caved in a millennia ago," he muttered. "This door, though. It's a good find. It's nothing fancy, but the fact that it has a keyhole and is _that old. _This isn't just some primitive construction. Whatever settlement this used to be, it was very advanced."

"You think it's really Shigan-?"

"I don't want to get my hopes up," the archeologist cut in. "We'll remove the door tomorrow for closer inspection.

-0-

"Careful! I swear, Olou, If you crack that door I'll-!"

"I see you're still making friends, Levi," came a deep voice.

Levi spun around to find Erwin leaning over him. The tall bastard blocked out the sunlight like some sort of freakish giant.

"Yeah, well, I believe a happy work environment is first priority," he deadpanned. And then: "I'm surprised you weren't here earlier."

"No one woke me up for it," Erwin answered. His tone was nothing but pleasant, but Levi had known him long enough to hear his sore pride groaning underneath his façade.

"Look Erwin. I didn't want to make a big deal out if it in case it turned out to be nothing. I would have called you to come with us if Hange hadn't been so vague with the details." Okay, maybe that was stretching the truth a bit. When had Hange ever been vague? But, damn it, Shiganshina was his dream and purpose. He couldn't stand the thought of his superior showing up and taking the credit for all his hard work in excavating the old ruins. Then again, Hange _had_ been the one to find the door, but in his defense it had been _his_ string that she had tripped over.

"At least you're here in time for the door's removal," Levi said. "You can help me make sure none of these idiots drop it."

"Yes," Erwin agreed, his swollen pride assuaged for the time being. "Let's not have that."

It took hours for the edges of the door to be examined with the upmost care and hours more for it to be carefully cut away from its ancient frame. Both Levi and Erwin stayed there the whole time, sometimes helping their subordinates (Olou, Petra, Gunther, and Eld, if anyone cared to know) and sometimes hanging back to direct the others. It was early evening when they were finally ready to remove the door.

They had tarp ready to wrap it up and a truck parked at the edge of the forested depression.

"Careful now," Levi said as his team peeled the door off its frame and lowered it onto the tarp sheet. "Now this-." And then he froze.

A great crystalline structure sat just behind the door, and in it: the body of a human, a young man to be more specific, frozen in time like an insect in amber and with a look of horror on his face.


	2. Chapter 1: The Legend of the Titans

_Disclaimer: I don't own_

**Chapter 1: The Legend of the Titans**

_===17 years ago===_

A large, cumbersome hand descended upon the little wooden soldiers, knocking them across the floor. The old cat, who had been watching Levi's play with minor interest, jumped to her feet at the sudden movement and scampered to the other side of the room in offense. This caused the young boy to snicker.

He slid one of the remaining soldiers across the floor and got down on his belly so that he was eye level with it.

"You'll pay for that!" He said as deeply as he could manage, speaking as the surviving soldier. "Fffsssshhhhhhhh!"

Levi made him jump into the air, pretending he was attached to invisible wires that grappled him from invisible building to invisible building, and swung him across the room.

"You won't get away!"

Levi crawled over to where the cat had settled once again and landed the soldier on her shaggy head. Her tail patted against the ground.

"Levi," came a chiding voice. "I'm happy that you like your birthday present, but do you really need to bother the cat with it."

The boy looked over his shoulder at his grandmother, who was standing in the kitchen doorway, a steaming ladle in her hand. He face was kind despite the chiding. In many ways she looked like Levi himself: pale skin, black hair, sharp eyes.

"Eren needs to get revenge," said Levi, matter-of-factly, pointing at his fallen toy comrades scattered across the floor. "Lucy's a Titan," he added, regarding the cat.

"Is that so," she said with a smile. "Well, it's almost time for supper. Why don't you send them back to headquarters for now and come help me in the kitchen. Grandpa should be home any minute now."

Levi was about to point out that most of the soldiers were dead now so they wouldn't be able to return to headquarters, but he stopped himself. Grandma would think that he was talking back, and one did not talk back to Grandma if one did not want to sit in the corner.

-0-

After a hardy meal of beef and vegetable stew (Levi's favorite) with his dear grandma and grandpa, Levi crawled onto Grandpa's lap and requested a bedtime story. Grandpa laughed, telling him that it was time for bed, but he gave in after a while.

"Alright, you can stay up a little later tonight. But only because it's your birthday. You only turn six once after all. Which story do you want?"

"The one with the Titans and Shiganshina and Eren Yeager," Levi answered immediately.

"What? That one again?" Grandpa said teasingly. "You've heard that one _so_ many times. Haven't you gotten tired of it yet?"

"Please," begged Levi. "Please, Grandpa. It's my birthday. Pleeeeeease."

"Alright, alright," He said with a chuckle and a wave of his hands. And then he began.

"Once upon a time there were giant monsters that roamed the earth. They were called Titans…"

Levi snuggled against his Grandpa's side. His eyes just as wide and as focused as the first time he had heard the story. Grandma settled near them and began to poke at the fireplace, half-listening.

"They didn't eat deer or cattle," His grandpa went on, his voice taking on a depth that was only ever there when he told a story. "Instead they liked to eat People. Humans were very afraid of them so they built giant walls to live in and for a time they lived peacefully. Now, they had very different technology back then that they used to hunt the Titans: a primitive version of the maneuver gear that we have today, with swords that fired grappling hooks so that they could swing from building to building or tree to tree…"

Grandpa told him the story of how the walled city, Shiganshina, fell to the titans and how a hero rose out of the ruins. Eren Yeager, a great man who had the power to turn himself into a titan, fought valiantly against the menace.

"…And then he disappeared without a trace. Some say he fell in battle. Some say he wiped out the titans and then left to live out the rest of his days in solitude. He is a mysterious figure of Legend that scholars have debated about for hundreds of years. To this day no one knows for sure. The end."

"Alright," said Grandma after a moment of silence, letting the story hang in the air for a bit. "Do you want me or Grandpa Armin to tuck you in?"

Though the story was Levi's favorite, he always hated the ending. He was still young when he decided he was going to change it.

_===Present Day===_

It took Levi a moment to realize that the ground and jumped up and hit his ass. He had hardly felt the impact. How did his ankle manage to snag on the tarp sheet like that, just right to trip him as he had taken a step back? Didn't matter.

He wasn't sure what to make of it.

The Crystal was gigantic, taking up the whole doorway, and as pure as diamond. Behind it, the room had in fact collapsed long ago, but the Crystal was not buried in rubble like everything around it, as it was sheltered by the steadfast door. It was completely flat on the front, with the door's patterns imbedded in it as if it, whatever mineral it was, had been formed against the surface.

That wasn't what really caught Levi's attention though. He was completely mesmerized by the boy that stood frozen in time. An expression of horror and shock was plastered on his face. His mouth was open. His turquoise eyes were large. Chocolate hair was caught in time, flowing around his head in what looked to be an ancient gust of wind. It all told of a mysterious and instantaneous death.

"Levi?" came Hange's voice. "Are you-Levi!"

"Yeah?" he answered after finding his voice.

"Are you seeing that?"

"I think so."

"It's a…boy."

"No shit."

_Sorry if the story's moving a bit slow, but I wanted to keep it in 1000 word increments, more or less. Also, I just really wanted to update. Thank you to everyone that reviewed. I swear to Wall Maria, Rose, and Shina that it will pay off if you stick with the story. _


	3. Chapter 2: A Matter of DNA

_Disclaimer: I don't own_

Chapter 2: A Matter of DNA

It was a pain to get the crystallized boy to the laboratory. To start off with, the little shit weighed a ton at least. Erwin had to call in a small crane to lift it onto their flatbed truck after carefully extracting it from its resting place. Getting it out was the hardest part. Levi forbade anyone from touching it with their bare hands to keep it from being contaminated, which slowed the process considerably.

A day later found him standing in the lab before the crystal, which was mounted in a sterile case behind Hange's workspace. He had been standing there for nearly an hour without moving. Though the Burgundy-haired analyst didn't seem to mind, wrapped up in her work as she was, her assistant, Kirstein, kept glancing his way. Or Maybe he was just looking at the boy like Levi was. He couldn't write that off. It was mesmerizing to say the least.

Finally though: "Ah hah!" Hange exclaimed. Kirstein nearly dropped the vial he was handling.

Levi glanced for at her. "Found something."

Her face was flushed pink with excitement as she scampered over to Levi. Her assistant came in tow. "I just completed a test on the crystal matter-oh this is amazing. I thought at first that what I was detecting was pollen or maybe an insect, but it's not. It all reads as the same."

"Slow down, four-eyes. What's the same? What are you talking about?"

"The crystal. It's all the same matter all the way through."

"And?"

"And it's organic."

"Huh?"

"It's not a mineral at all. It's organic material through and through. And get this, it matches the boy's DNA exactly. Perfectly. It IS the boy!"

"I thought you called yourself a scientist," scoffed Levi. "Check it again."

"I've checked it multiple times."

"Check it again."

Hange pouted. And then brightened a moment later.

"Hold out your hand," she said.

"No," said Levi without skipping a beat. "Why? Nevermind. No."

"It won't be feces samples this time. I promise," she whined. "Just hold out your hand. I can prove this is matter we've never worked with before."

Reluctantly, he raised his hand palm-up. Hange snapped on latex gloves and removed a sample of the crystal from her station.

"Now this might be a bit hot, but don't drop it. It won't hurt you, not really. Ready?"

Levi nodded, wearing zero-shits-given on his face. She plopped it onto his hand.

The moment the crystal touched his bare skin there was a hissing sound that filled the laboratory. His eyes went wide as it emitted a cloud of steam into the air and shrunk away like an ice cube on a hotplate. It did burn a bit, but he could put up with it.

And then it was gone.

He flexed his fingers around the red mark left behind on his palm.

"What the fuck."

"I told you," she sung. "I'm trying to think of a name for him. What do you think about Ferdinand? I always liked that name and he sure looks like a Ferdinand. What do you think?"

"Hange. What. The. Fuck." He was still staring down at where the sample used to be.

"Levi?" Hange studied him, shifting her glasses. She looked like she was about to speak, but was cut off.

"Levi." It was Erwin. He looked over his shoulder at his boss and friend.

"Yeah," he greeted, his voice as steady as it had ever been, though he couldn't say the same for everything on his inside. "What's going on?"

"Did you talk to a reporter?" asked Erwin. His face was as serious as death.

"A reporter? Hell no."

"Hange?"

"That wasn't me. Kirstein, did you talk to a reporter?"

"About the crystal? No. I didn't know about it until I came in this morning."

"Well someone leaked it," said Erwin. "I've got someone from _Universal Daily_ out here asking for an interview with you, Levi. She refuses to leave until she speaks with you."

"Shit," Levi swears. "Yeah, I'll take care of her. Hange, fill Erwin in. Erwin, you're going to want to see this."

"Levi, I don't want this discovery revealed until we know what we're dealing with."

"What do you take me for?" Levi said with slight irritation. And with that he strode out of the room.

He was jumped as soon as he left the building. The reporter had been waiting at the entrance. She was a young, pretty woman, stick thin and tan with straight hair and a smile that exposed both rows of teeth behind the dangerously red lipstick. Behind her trailed two men. One was holding a large news camera which was trained on him.

"Hello, My name is Candice Winters, reporter for _Universal Daily_, the leading news program in New Benton," she said, running a hand through her hair while offering a flirty smile. He felt his eye twitch. Maybe that would have worked on him, as he knew it probably worked on all the other gentlemen, had he not been as gay as a Victorian Yuletide.

"Can I help you?" he asked, hoping to move the conversation along.

"Are you Levi Ackerman, the one in charge of this dig site?" she asked. Levi looked at her with his, cold unfeeling eyes. He didn't need her to tell him who he was and what he did, but he supposed the introduction was all for the sake of the camera.

"Yes. That would be me."

"It's funny. I imagined you...taller," she said with a phony laugh.

"A lot of people say that."

"Er, right. I'll get right to the point, Mr. Ackerman. I'm know you're a busy man."

Levi waited.

"I've received intel that you've made a big discovery here in the ruins of _Shiganshina_." She turned and made a face at the camera, making an exaggerated O with her lips. "Why don't you tell us about that. My audience is waiting."

"Well, there is no verifiable proof that the ruins we are working in are the remains of Shiganshina."

"I've read up on you, Mr. Ackerman. Your whole career has been focused on Shiganshina."

"Well, yes and no. I study the legend but I majored in anthropology, which is a broad field. I'm looking for remnants of the culture which inspired the legend. I'm not looking for titan fossils."

She turned to the camera and said, "Come on, I know you can do better than that. Give us something interesting. Don't you even want to find Shiganshina?"

"That doesn't change the fact that we haven't come across any evidence of it ever existing."

"Which brings me back to my other topic. See I've got good reason to believe that you've found something...unusual."

Levi resisted asking who she got her information from, because it would just sound incriminating and it's not like she would tell him anyways. Instead he just said, "Sorry to get your hopes up. I really wish it were true, but I haven't heard anything."

"Oh," she said gently. "That's too bad. I'm sorry to have wasted your time."

Levi said something pleasant and she said something pleasant back. She and her Cameraman and the other man loaded their equipment into a funny looking van with a satellite dish on the top and drove away, dust flying in the air.

Levi found Hange and Erwin in the lab, going over a shitload of calculations. Erwin looked a bit shaken, but also excited. Just how Levi felt. They both looked up as he came in.

"Well?" the blonde asked. "You got rid of her then."

"Yes," he answered. "But she's going to sneak in tonight."

_Alright, first I want to thank all the wonderful reviewers. Reviews make me write much much faster. This story may seem a bit slow, but Eren's coming very soon. Please stick with it._

_Also, above I mentioned a city called New Benton, which is made up. I think it's made up. (There might be a New Benton that exists I don't know) I thought this would be a good time to explain the world that the reincarnated Levi Ackerman lives in. It is modern day. They have everything we have: TV, internet, running water, toasters, plus some stuff we don't have. It is also a Parallel world, very much like our own, but not. In my mind New Benton is the equivalent of New York City, the culture capital of the world. His world has different countries that parallel our own but are not the ones you are familiar with (or unfamiliar with if you're an American ha ha)_

_Sorry this is going really in depth for a fan fiction. I'll stop now._


	4. Chapter 4: The boy in the Crystal

_Disclaimer: I don't own._

**Chapter 3: The Boy in the Crystal**

To the outside observer, Hange's laboratory was in the middle of nowhere. When the ruins were first uncovered a half-century previous, it was built in the center. Levi wasn't sure if that counted as "somewhere". It probably didn't.

Though the years ground on, the location of the old lab hadn't changed. It was kept current with all the new technologies and repairs were done when they were needed, but it remained as it always had. Currently, it was top-of-the-line, outfitted with the best security system available. It was the type of security system that required fingerprint and iris scans in addition to the password-protected doors that slid into the ground when opened.

Levi knew the young Ms. Winters was going to try to sneak in. He'd seen the cogs turning in her head. But he didn't know how she thought she was going to do it. The lab was impossible to break into. And he could feel a little empathy for her-an ambitious youth, just trying to catch her big break in a highly competitive field. He couldn't fault her, though he was annoyed none the less.

Well, she wasn't the only one testing his patience.

"Oi, glasses, It's time for you to go already. Your shift to watch isn't until midnight."

"Can't talk now," Hange said with a shake of her head. she was scribbling in a notebook, not even bothering to look up. "I have to record my findings. Ferdinand's DNA is-"

"Save it," he interrupted. "And stop calling him _Ferdinand_. It's shit. When we release it, his name is going to be Ackerman."

"Oh, poo. You're no fun."

"Whatever. Go back to your tent already."

"Almost done. . .almost done. . .done!" She snapped her notebook close. "I'm out of your hair. For now." And then she giggled darkly.

"Just get here at twelve."

Hange waved her hand flippantly and opened the door to the hallway. It slid shut behind her and locked with a sharp click.

Levi slumped into one of the swivel chairs and pulled out his phone as he tried to distract himself, but it wasn't long before his attention was drawn back to the crystallized boy. It was like the strangest work of art that he had ever seen. First of all, it was about two-thousand years old, by Hange's scientific reasoning, and was found in the ruins of what could possibly be Shiganshina. He was perfectly preserved. That alone was an archeologist's wet dream. There was also an aesthetic quality the boy possessed. Simply put, he was a beautiful young man. That's not to say that Levi felt anything sexual towards him. He was too cold-looking, his face was too horror-stricken. Also, there was the bit about him being a dead, frozen corpse. Levi wasn't into that.

Also, he was strangely, strangely familiar. It tickled the back of his brain.

"Who are you?" His own voice startled him when he said it, amplified by the emptiness of the lab. He felt his words reach every dark corner and come back to him with force. Predictably, there was no response.

"Life's weird, isn't it. Shit."

It wasn't until eleven that things got weird.

_Bwam. Bwum. Bwam. Bwum._

"The f-" Levi glanced up at the sound. It wasn't terribly loud, but...

_Bwum. Fwshhh. Fwshhh._

It was coming from the ventilation system.

"No..." he said incredulously.

His phone was out in a second, his fingers were already dialing the number.

"Levi?" came Erwin's voice from the other line, heavy with sleep. "What's going on?"

The archeologist cupped the distance between his mouth and the receiver and said quietly, "She's in the ventilation system. I don't think she's seen anything yet, though."

"The venti-I'll be there in five." And then he hung up.

Levi shoved a chair out of his way as he strode past, sending it rolling across the tiles. He caught it at the last second before it slammed into the desk. _She doesn't know you're in here, Levi. Take it easy. _Most of the lights were off already to conserve power, so he simply crouched in a dark corner and followed the sounds. They were moving slowly towards the end of the room where the passage dipped down and opened at a square vent in the side of the wall. Beside it, a fuse box blinked.

Then Levi looked at the great, big crystal and swore himself into the last ring of hell. None of the overhead lights were on above it, but that didn't obscure it in any way. He jumped up and ran across the tiles, keeping low and making no sound at all. He wrenched open the fire emergency closet and tugged the fire blanket onto the floor. It was large, heavy as hell, and limp as a dead fish, but it was all he had to work with. He just hoped it was big enough. With a grunt, the undersized man dragged it across the lab to where the crystal was mounted. He hefted it up and threw it with all his strength. It cleared the egg-shaped crest, but slipped off in a second. Levi tried again, getting it farther, but it didn't want to stay. His limbs were quickly tiring.

The sounds of popping metal were farther along now. That strange shuffling sound reverberated throughout the room, signaling that the intruder had begun to climb down beyond the wall. He had seconds.

Summoning the last of his strength, Levi hurled the blanket over. It caught for a second, but then began to slide off again.

He grasped the middle and tossed it up as well, arms burning, then ran to the other side and, cursing his height, jumped up to catch the tail. His hand brushed the crystal for a moment and he hardly contained a startled yelp at the heat of it. A bit of steam rolled up into the air. With a twitch of his eyebrow he pulled the material down and stepped back to make sure that the blanket was even enough on all sides to hide it. It was just big enough to do the job.

Again, he slunk back into the corner and waited.

Again, there was that shuffling sound followed by another shuffling that overlapped it. Damn. She wasn't alone. _Erwin, you better hurry the fuck up._

_Twong! _The intruder's feet had connected with the ground, aiding Levi in pinpoint her exact location just beyond the grate. A screwdriver appeared between the bars, made quick work of the screws, and then slipped back out of sight. Her hands were there, gripping the bars and lowering it to the ground. She slid out, for it was indeed the journalist, and swatted the dust off her pants. Behind her, her cameraman emerged toting the large camera under his arm. And behind him the third man emerged, though his purpose in following them around was no clearer than when Levi met the group earlier. He couldn't have been a bodyguard, for he was thin and getting on in years. Around his neck was a funny-looking piece of adornment, a necklace of sorts with three clunky medallions strung on it.

"Don't stop filming. No matter what," she said. To that the Cameraman nodded and slung the thing onto his shoulder. A blinking red light came on on the camera. He gave the thumbs up.

"Good, now where's the lights? Ah." Levi's hand fisted as she found the fuse box and made herself at home. She flicked every single switch on and the lab burst into light.

"Don't do that," said Levi, causing the intruders to jump a foot. The third man even let out a yelp. "You're not the one who has to pay the electric bill."

"Where the hell did you come from?" She demanded, chest rising and falling.

"I should be asking you that." Levi could see now that she looked very different. She was still thin, still tan, still a good-looking young woman, but her face was like a clear canvas, devoid of makeup. Her lips weren't blood-red anymore and on her cheeks was a dusting of freckles that were probably a bitch to cover up. That fraudulent smile was gone too.

"Who are you really?" he asked.

"A journalist for _Universal Daily_."

"I didn't ask what you were. How about a name."

"Candice Winters."

"No really."

She hesitated before replying. "Fine, yeah. Candice is a stage name. Sue me."

Levi waited.

"Ymir," she said. "But you won't get my last name."

"Don't want it. Who tipped you off, Ymir. And what did they tell you was in this lab?"

"The discovery of the century."

"There's nothing here," he growled. "As I said earlier."

"I'd be so much easier if you'd give me a tour of the place."

Levi snorted at that. "And why would I do that? Are you going to bat your eyes at me?"

A smirk curled her mouth. "Also for the camera," she said. "I don't swing that way. And apparently neither do you."

"Enough of this. There's nothing here."

"Ah. And you're here because..."

"Because I have work to do," Levi said.

"So do I."

Levi knew the exact moment her eyes fell on the fire blanket. Her eyes widened and she smiled. Of course the fire blanket was out of place. It was painfully obvious that it was covering something very large. fortunately, Levi stood between her and the object of her attention. Unfortunately, there were three of them and Erwin had yet to arrive.

While the mysterious third man hung back, the cameraman followed Ymir as she advanced on Levi.

"No matter what," she said. "Don't stop filming."

Her foot tensed and squeaked on the pristine floor. It was the only warning Levi got before she sprung forward and collided with him. Levi was knocked back in surprise, but that was the only advantage she could hold over him. He had always been strong for his size. She passed him and was headed for the crystal, but he was on her tail in a second. Her coat tails were flying, obvious targets to be grabbed, but he didn't go for them. He dove to tackle her instead. And missed.

She grasped the fire blanket and ripped it off.

There was his life's work, flying into the air as the blanket snapped against itself. The recognition would be hers. Not even Hange's. Not even Erwin's. And he, he would be the one that tried to hide the discovery from the world.

But the blanket was too heavy. It never cleared the top of the crystal. There was a grating sound, like stone on stone. Levi turned onto his back, but there was no more time than that to react to what he saw. The crystal was tipping, tipping, and falling. The next thing that Levi could comprehend was a scream from the reporter as the thing came down to crush him.

He felt like a house had fallen on him. The weight of it was impossible and the pain was excruciating. It squashed him to the floor. But in an instant the weight lifted and was replaced by a whole new pain as the crystal began to melt against his skin. Everything disappeared in a cloud of hot, lung-searing steam. It was an eternity before he could do anything but scream.

A weight still pressed down on him, but it wasn't nearly as heavy as the crystal had been. The steam finally rolled away.

Collapsed on Levi, the larger body of another lay heavily. He thought at first it was the frozen corpse of the boy, but was shocked to discover that the body was warm. There was a firm chest pressed against his face and he could feel the heartbeat thrumming against his cheek. It was quickened and very much alive. The boy was shaking uncontrollably, whimpering and crying pitifully in a language that Levi was unfamiliar with.

Levi's face was burnt red and stung, but he paid that little mind as he turned his head sideways to survey the damage. There stood the reporter, looking just as stunned as he felt. Behind her was the cameraman, wearing the same expression. His mouth was agape and there were shadows ringing his eyes, but that wasn't what caught Levi's attention. It was the camera, which was still on his shoulder, still blinking red.

_Woah sorry about the delay. School started and I'm taking a creative writing class so all my writing stamina is being used up. Please let me know if anyone is coming off as OOC. I really wanna stick to SNK's character's personalities as much as possible while still making a yaoi relationship out of it :} because SNK has amazing characters. Also this story is going to be a slow burn. Lotsa plot and sexual tension. Just warning you now. Also HEADS UP it's probably going to become M RATED at some point. Well, until next time then._


	5. Chapter 5: The Boy in the Crystal, part2

_Disclaimer: I do not own_

_Well I'm back! And so is Eren!_

**Chapter 4: The Boy in the Crystal, part 2**

Erwin burst into the laboratory only a few seconds too late. He didn't understand what he saw at first. Hot, cloying steam filled the lab. When it finally began to clear, four figures came into existence. The reporter and her right-hand man stood frozen. There was a camera on his shoulder, blinking a red light through the evaporating steam. It was pointing at what seemed to be the source of all the commotion. The body of a young male lay on the linoleum, slack as a puppet with its strings cut.

"Erwin!" Came Levi's voice. It took him a second to locate his friend under the limp body of the boy. "Get the fucking Camera!"

He glanced up. The Cameraman jumped back and made for the exit, but Erwin was too fast for him. It didn't take much to wrestle the piece of equipment out of his grasp. He pushed the man back and slammed his hand down on the large red button beside the doors. Sirens honked and the room was filled with a flashing light. The door slammed down and locked. Security would be there in minutes.

-0-

The boy was alive.

That was all Levi could think about as he stared up at the ceiling. The boy was shaking terribly and his body was feverish in temperature. The archeologist pushed at his shoulders, lifting him a couple inches before his fatigued muscles gave out, letting the boy flop back onto him with a pained whimper.

"Come on, kid. Can't you move at all?" The boy didn't seem to have heard him. "Erwin," Levi grunted.

His boss was on the other side of the lab table, interrogating the reporter and if her expression was anything to go by, he was using that scary face of his that he only pulled out on rare occasions. Though not explicitly frightened, she seemed to be subdued by him.

"...You don't have to answer. Security will be here in moments," he said darkly.

Levi called his name again. Erwin shot one last look her way, warning her to stay put before he rounded the table and squatted next to Levi.

"Is that...?"

"Yeah," answered Levi. "He's alive."

If Erwin was surprised (_and_ _he very well better be surprised_, thought Levi, _I just about shit myself_) he didn't show it. Levi gave one last shove, succeeding in rolling the boy off him (none too gently) to flop eagle onto the cold linoleum. His face twitched in a grimace at the impact before falling slack. His body stopped shaking.

Levi and Erwin's eyes met over the ceased body of the boy and Levi found his own confusion in his boss's expression.

"Did he just die?" asked Levi. "Fuck."

He lay his head down on the boy's chest, listening for a heartbeat. But before he could focus he heard Erwin's intake of breath. A tan hand gripped his sleeve hard enough to strain the material. Levi jumped, tilted his head, and was met with wide, turquoise eyes. His pupils were pinpricks of consciousness and shrinking still as he gaped up at Levi.

"What?" snipped Levi, feeling a bit light-headed. "You think you're the shocked one here?"

"H-," the boy breathed out dryly. "Hei...Heichou?"

"What did he say?" asked Erwin. The boy's eyes shot over to the blond man before returning to Levi.

"How am I supposed to-?"

"Hei..." he said again before gasping for breath. His voice was painfully ragged, as if he hadn't had anything to drink in ages-oh wait, he hadn't.

"We should get him some water," said Erwin.

"Heichou!" he cried, grasping onto the front of Levi's shirt (oh god, the wrinkles). Gibberish poured out of his mouth and his eyes began to gleam. A couple fat, wet tears streamed down his cheeks. Levi tried to crawl away, but the boy didn't relent. He refused to release him, pulling Levi into a tight embrace that subsequently pinned his arms to his sides.

"What the fuck?" the raven-haired man muttered. "Erwin?"

Erwin placed a heavy hand on the boy's shoulder, drawing him back. The boy relented, face flushed and angry. He smeared his tears away roughly and muttered something Levi didn't understand. Then he looked to Levi when he had mastered himself and spoke again in a controlled tone. When Levi didn't respond, he tried again. He glanced over his shoulder and spoke something to Erwin next, confusion in his voice. That confusion quickly turned to panic. He shot his head back towards Levi, a jumble of syllables rushing out, but the black-haired man was at a loss.

"I don't know what you're saying," said Levi. The boy's eyes widened in shock, head tilted, brows furrowed.

"Heald frei?" He asked. "Jauge!"

"I. don't. under. stand." reiterated Levi.

"Heichou, heald frei? Nakt ja isunbaal braerjut! Nakt ja isunbaal braerjut!"

The grip on his shirt collar was back again stronger than before. Levi grasped the boy's wrists and squeezed until he let go.

"I don't know what you are saying!" Levi shouted into his face.

"Levi," Erwin cautioned. But his warning came too late. Those turquoise eyes rolled up into his head and he slumped unconscious. Levi caught him just in time.

A loud and obnoxious series of beeps and honks heralded the lab door's opening and the security men and women who spilled through into the room. They secured the reporter and her cameraman in handcuffs and walked them out.

The boy's face was oddly peaceful in its slackness, oddly beautiful in the way his eyelashes swept his cheekbones, oddly familiar in a way Levi just couldn't place. Yet it niggled in the back of his mind. _Heichou...Heichou..._

A bellow of rage resounded down the hall, causing Levi to stir. Hange burst into the room, looking like she was ready to take on one of the mythical titans. "My beautiful Ferdinand!" She cried, tearing at her hair in something akin to grief. "What happened! Oh my god, What happened!"


	6. Chapter 5: Things to be Certain of

Disclaimer: I do not own, wish i did.

**Chapter 5: Things to be Certain of**

The kid turned out to be severely dehydrated Hange determined the moment she finished pinching the skin on his knuckles. Normally, she explained, the skin snapped right back into place, but in the case of severe dehydration it retained its pressed shape. She shoved them out of the way and pulled an aluminum water bottle out of her purse. With care she lifted his scruffy head and poured the water down his opened throat, being careful not to drown him.

"There should be an IV in the med cabinet," she said. Numbly, Levi got to his feat and retrieved the equipment, unspooled it, and pushed the capped needle into her waiting hand. There was coldness in his stomach as he looked down at the boy. He shouldn't have done that. He shouldn't have shouted at him like that. He could only imagine what the kid had gone through to get here alive and what he would soon be going through when he woke up later. This world would be strange to him, beeping and blinking with modern technology. The communication issues he would have... Levi didn't want to even think about that. There was no way this was going to be easy. On anyone.

"Shouldn't we get him into a bed or something?" Levi asked quietly.

"We can worry about that later," Hange answered. Her tone was chilly. Still angry at him, he figured, though she would get over it soon enough. She uncapped the needle with a pop, as Levi raised the IV bag, and slipped it under the skin of the boy's forearm.

Soon the boy was laying in a shitty bed-on-wheels with the long needle up his arm behind a couple closed curtains, the only privacy Hange was willing to offer him. Hange had also been the one to change him into a paper-thin scrub, a task Levi certainly didn't fight her for. But he was the one to fold the boy's filthy clothes, the dirk-streaked, patched-and-repatched things that they were. They were old too, not just in age, but in style; the sewn patterns, the technique. The university classes he had taken on ancient civilizations were jumping up out of the recesses of his mind, prodding at him to look closer, to find the date. His rough estimate was two thousand years ago, the same date as the ruins, but he couldn't be sure.

Erwin called his name, pulling him back from the brink of unconsciousness some hours later. Levi was sitting in a chair at the edge of the boy's bed, head in his hands, ragged clothes folded into perfect squares on his lap.

"Is it morning already?" Levi asked, looking around to see if any of the lab workers had come in yet.

"No," Erwin answered. "It's two in the morning. You should go back to your apartment. Get some sleep. I'll drive you if your too tired."

"I was just thinking about that," Levi said. "I was thinking I should stay here for the time being."

"You were just nodding off," corrected Erwin with an amused smile.

"Even still," Levi slurred, sleep-drunk. "My apartment is too far away from the sight, and too expensive. I've always thought that. I'd rather just stay in the lab. There's a couple bunk rooms that aren't being used."

"Most people avoid living in their place of work."

"Don't be ridiculous. This lab was built for the workaholic. Why else would we have the bunkrooms. Showers. kitchen. Tell me I'm wrong." He said. "Didn't think so. Besides, the dig sight isn't what I'm interested in anymore. Well, It's not the _most_ interesting thing anyways."

"The boy."

"The boy," confirmed Levi. "He's the key to unlocking the secrets of Shiganshina."

That caught Erwin unawares. "I thought you didn't want to assume these ruins were Shiganshina," he said carefully.

"It's Shiganshina," said Levi. "I know it is. Just like I know that boy is the key to it."

"And how do you know that," Erwin asked.

"I don't know," answered Levi, before shaking his head. "Nevermind. I'm tired. Forget I said anything. Well, don't forget I said anything about moving in here. I was serious about that. But forget the rest."

"Do you need help finding your room or..."

"Oh don't patronize me," Levi said as he pushed himself to his feet, joints cracking loudly. He placed the boy's clothes on the chair and smoothed down the material. "I'm taking the nearest room. I'll take a janitorial closet if I have to. Actually, that doesn't sound too bad."

"Then go already. You're talking nonsense," said Erwin with a chuckle. "I'll watch over him until Hange gets back."

"Wake me if he even so much as stirs."

"Of course."

Levi stumbled off to bed then, sparing one last look at the sleeping boy before he went. He didn't move at all except for his eyes, which flicked about underneath his lids, following the images put forth by his unconscious mind. Levi wondered what he was dreaming about; perhaps his life before being crystallized. His old life. A life filled with people and places that existed thousands of years in the past. Or perhaps a nightmare, featuring Levi himself and Erwin and the strange, alien laboratory. There was no way of knowing.

But when Levi's head hit the pillow (in the nearest bunkroom, just as he had said) sleep was a certain thing.

-0-

The next morning Levi forced himself to shower before going in to check on the boy. If he neglected to do it right away as he always did, he would get caught up in the lab and neglect a shower until the sun went down again. He wasn't going down that road, he thought with a shudder. As for breakfast, he snagged a couple pears from the fridge and munched on one as he made his way down the hall.

He pulled his lanyard out of his shirt and swiped the keycard to unlock the metal door. It honked at him, flashing a green light, and slid down. As he cleared the door it slid back up behind him and clicked into its latch.

Hange was already there despite the early hour, fiddling with a testy little monitor that didn't appear to want to work right. There were many of them in fact, monitors, all different sizes, peeking out from behind the white curtains, which were flung out and draped over mountains of medical and scientific equipment alike. The makeshift hospital room looked close to bursting.

"Hange," Levi grunted. "Don't tell me he's somewhere in the middle of that."

"What? It's all necessary. I promise," she assured, pulling the curtain open to reveal an area that looked more like a storage unit than it did a hospice. There was a cleared path to his bed, and thankfully she had not piled any of the equipment onto the bed with him, but Levi wanted it all gone just the same.

"He can't wake up like that. It'll freak him out."

"I don't think there is any way of avoiding that," she said, matter-of-fact. Levi didn't know how to respond to that. She wasn't wrong.

"I'm not going to argue. Get. . ._this_," Levi said, sweeping his hand out. "out of here."

"Are you ordering me around in my own laboratory, Levi?" she asked darkly.

"He's my discovery. I don't care where he happens to be," Levi said. "Now I want this equipment out of here. You can study him later once he's adjusted a bit. Until then I don't want any modern technology within the confines of his. . .curtains."

Grudgingly, Hange moved to obey him, pouting as she went. Levi did make an exception for the IV, but everything else was gone from behind the curtains by the time Erwin arrived.

"Levi," he greeted. "You're up earlier than I expected."

"Can it," Levi spat, hefting the last of the monitors into his arms. "I've decided no one's allowed past the curtains until further notice."

"Just like you decided you were living here from now on? You really ought to stop making important life decisions when you're half asleep."

"Ha ha," Levi grunted humorlessly.

Erwin motioned for Hange to come over to him. "What's wrong with him?" he asked.

She simply shrugged. "You know he gets ornery after a bad night's sleep."

"Levi," started Erwin.

"No," Levi answered primly. "He's my responsibility."

Erwin kneaded his brow. "Why, because you found him? Because you released him? Because you shook him up a bit, for god's sakes? You could have been a perfect gentleman and It wouldn't have changed the fact that he's two thousand years away from home."

"I don't feel guilty. It's not that."

"Then what?"

"Don't worry about it," Levi grunted. "It's just something I know I need to do."

"You just know," Erwin repeated. Levi rolled his eyes. "Fine then. He's your responsibility."


End file.
